Also, since Wings can unfold very complex things (if you know how to give it hints properly) I figured that this will help everybody- many projects want to work with complex organic curvature that may not be easily-mapped otherwise.
So, let's begin.
First off, you're going to need this irregular shape that I'm providing. This was made in Rhino3D 3.0, and it works perfectly in Wings after welding it completely together (Rhino users, this means meshing it, triangulating it, and then selecting the object and using Weld with a 179-degree tolerance).
I selected an irregular (but not too weird) shape, because uvmapping a cube doesn't teach anybody anything. It's too simple. But this won't make your brains hurt too much, I promise
Ok, now follow these steps:
1. Download and decompress this file, and then Import it into Wings (if you don't already have it, and want to learn how to uvmap, go to http://www.wings3d.com to get the software, and install it).
Your screen should now look like this:
Now might be a good time to get familiar with the basics of the Wings interface, if you aren't already familiar with it (experienced Wings users can ignore this part). Wings is, for lack of a nicer way of putting it, weird. Those of us who come from the CAD/CAM world will find it a bit off-putting and counterintuitive. However, it's still a 3D program, and you can master it fairly easily.
Firstly, there's navigation. Navigation was inherited from some modeler I've never heard of, which was apparently the basis for Wings. Whoever designed that method of interfacing with this software was insane, which is probably why I've never heard of that software
Luckily, the Wings programmers are not insane, and have given us options.To get back to a more familiar interface is quite possible, and I strongly suggest all of you old-skool people look at what I've done here- it will save you some stress and make life easier
Simply go to Edit-->Preferences, and select Camera. Then you'll see a drop-down menu that says Camera Mode. Select 3DS Max. This causes a middle-click to become a panning motion, and alt-middle-click becomes a rotate. Much, much less insane. Here's a screenshot.
2. Now that we know how to move around the world a bit, it's time to get to work!
To complete this tutorial, you will need to be working from two windows, back and forth. This seems to be a big part of Wings's workflow, so bear this in mind. But first, we need to get used to selecting Objects and Edges.
First, go up to the top of the screen, and select the pyramid icon that is fully-shaded. This is the Object Selection icon- you use it to select a whole object at a time. Here I am showing the icon- the square around it indicates it has been selected:
Now click on on the object, and move your mouse to one side. It will turn RED. This means it's been selected.
Now that we have learned how to use the Object Selection tool, let's try Edge Selection. Click on the pyramid that has a face outlined in red lines:
This will allow us to select individual edges. Just click on an edge of the object to select it, or click again to de-select it. To de-select ALL of the edges you have selected right now, hit the space bar.
Try that a couple of times, until you feel comfortable with the process of selecting the Object Selection and Edge Selection modes, because you're going to be using them a lot, even if all you use Wings for is uvmapping things.
3. Now it's time to open up a second window. Use Select Object to select the object (duh) and then go up to Window-->UV Editor Window.
The windows in Wings can be resized and moved. Resize by left-click and hold, on the little icons down in the right-bottom corners.
I suggest making the main window and the UV Editor Window look something like this:
...but you can, obviously, do whatever you find comfortable. That's just a suggestion.
4. Now, you should have a 3D view of your Object, which should be solid red, and you have a UV Editor Window view of... some strange-looking thing.
That strange-looking thing is what Wings will do to your poor models, without guidance! It's using whatever UV information it can dig out of the files we imported- and as you can see, it turns things into a mess at first. But never fear. We will soon fix this right up, by using a technique called Cutting and Unfolding to get our model ready to use.
Basically, making a uvmap with Wings is like unfolding a piece of origami artwork.
Imagine that your model is a single piece of paper, with nothing inside. It's not solid, but it is all one piece, cleverly glued together along fine cuts that are just the perfect lengths.
We're going to cut it along those angles, unfold it, and make it flat again, without tearing it or distorting it with ugly folds.
Firstly, select the Edge Selection tool in the 3D window and the UV Editor Window. It is very important that it is selected in both windows!
Now, I want you to select some very specific edges, in the 3D window, rotating the object around to whatever angle you need to select them. Follow these screenshots.
Make each side look like this:
Then, select this angle on the top (without de-selecting our previously-selected edges, btw):
Now we have selected enough edges to let Wings know how take our origami sculpture apart and unfold it perfectly! The big secret to this is to make the final resulting edge selections form a LINE (not a circle) of edges, starting at one side of the object and ending at the last face on the other side. This means that we're leaving one face "uncut" to keep everything "together" when we unfold, which results in much better initial maps.
Now, to cut the object, and unfold it, is simplicity itself. Go back to the UV Editor Window, and right-click on one of the selected edges (see how they're red over in this window, just like the 3D view? very handy) and click on Cut.
This will make the lines "jump" a little bit. This is a visual signal that the UI gives us, telling us, "hey, I made a cut in the uvmap". Don't worry, it's OK.
Now it's time to unfold the Object. Select the Object Selection icon, and click on the Object. Then right-click on the Object, and select "Re-Map UV", and left-click on "Unfold".
The result should look like this:
And there you go- you now have unfolded a model efficiently.
"But wait, Argh, what about making a texture with this?"
Easy! In Object Selection mode, just select the object, right-click, and select Create Texture, then tell it what options you want and what size you want it to be
"But wait, Argh, what if my model contains more than one object?"
There are two ways to deal with this issue. One is to cut and unfold every object in the model, and then select ALL of them before exporting from Wings, taking great care not to have any of them overlap each other in the UV Editor Window. That works OK, but it isn't quite as nice as I'd like.
The other way... the "Argh way", if I can be permitted a bit of horn-tooting, is to ignore Wings rather piss-poor handling of things like scale and rotation, and move the now unfolded model over to UVMapper Classic (or, if you're willing to pay for it, Pro, which is much better), and get it sorted out there. That'd be a whole 'nother tutorial, though.
"But wait, Argh, are there any potential problems I should look out for, if I've been making my models in another program?"
Yes! However, the answer to this question gets a bit technical, and I don't have time to break it all down right now.
The veeeeeeery short answer, though, is that:
A. All objects must be completely airtight. Objects with holes will not get handled properly by Wings (which is a real pity, since I like to clip faces as I go, and I will have to un-learn that).
B. Wings does NOT have tools for doing proper NURBs operations, like splits along arbitrary lines, etc. You need to do that stuff before bringing the model in.
C. If you're using Rhino3D, you need to re-weld your geometry so that it is perfectly welded, before bringing it into Wings, or Wings gets confused about whether or not you are importing closed surfaces.
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